Stroul Bay

We had left Robinetta and Worm in Rhu Marina. I’d originally wanted to get her to the house but the weather forecast encouraged discretion.

So we stayed on Robinetta on Sunday night and I got the first bus home on Monday morning.

It felt like commuting to the office! Alison stayed behind and did some tidying and came home around lunchtime.

Mid-week I got a call from the marina. There was another big wind due and they didn’t think Worm looked safe. It was really nice to feel our boats were being looked after. Luckily, Alison was in Helensburgh with her Dad’s car and could pop in on the way home. She brought Worm ashore and left her by the mast store.

Worm at Rhu

The weather forecasts were pretty changeable all week but in the end, Sunday looked like a good day for a short last sail.

The Ferry Inn - Rosneath side of the narrows

I still wanted to get Robinetta to Stroul Bay, so that’s what we did. The forecast was for a westerly wind but there was a little north in it. So we beat across into Rosneath Bay and then got a nice line into the narrows.

Rhu side of the narrows

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Two large birds landed on the red channel marker. Far more colourful than I’m used to, I hoped for something exotic, but the later advice is that they were immature cormorants.

young cormorants

Alison wanted to head up the Loch first. The wind was very variable, sometimes we managed nearly 4 knots, at other times we dropped to below a knot.

It was lovely to finally sail the water we’ve seen from the road so many times over the last year.

It was nearing lunchtime before we got anywhere near the head of the loch, so we turned round and headed for Stroul Bay.

The moorings were quite busy, and we got some chain out and threaded our way amongst them. I wanted the ideal spot for photos, and to mark the best place to lay a mooring.

That best place was very near where it started shelving and before we knew it, we had almost run out of water! We backed out into 4 m and dropped the hook.

Anchored in Stroul Bay

 Lunch was a simple affair of wholemeal bread and tinned mackerel. I took a few pictures of the house. Then I got into Worm to row ashore. Alison preferred to stay aboard.

That was fine, I don’t often get to row Worm and she rows beautifully. I came ashore at the new little memorial garden across the road from the house. 

A retired gentleman and his dog have taken to spending their days there. He’s helping tidy up a bit around the new garden. A nice chap. He made the same suggestion we’d heard at the CCC event in Tarbert – ‘DJ’ in Rosneath can lay us a mooring.

Worm with Robinetta in the background

I’d taken pictures of the house from Robinetta. Now I took some of Robinetta from the shore and then headed up to the house. 

The view from the terrace

 I took some from the terrace – our first sight of Robinetta from the house! And then indoors and some from the dining room. Being able to watch Robinetta at breakfast will be perfect.

Framed by the dining room window

 But that’s really something for next year. For now, I could relax in the glow of a goal attained. We’d set off a year ago to get Robinetta north. We’d got stuck in Southwold and carried on in April. We’d had a few difficult passages, especially the departure from Grimsby, but everything had worked out.

I wandered happily back down to Worm and rowed back to Robinetta.

It was still early with good wind but Alison was keen to get back. The Gareloch was a little busy with Sunday racing for her taste.

We sailed back through the narrows and sailed around a bit in Rosneath Bay and then headed into the Marina. I made a complete mess of coming back to the berth. It was a lee shore but I could have done better. We ended up with Robinetta pushing against the pontoon in the middle of the pair of finger berths and crushing Worm against the pontoon.

Not much damage was done, except to our pride. I’ll need to repair Worm’s starboard bow again. Exactly the same place I had to mend last winter!

Now we need to arrange for her to come out for the winter.